'NSC-68': The Blueprint for Permanent War [Socialist History: S1 Episode 3]

Most empires never write their plans down, but the American empire did. In 1950 a top-secret government document called NSC-68 laid out the blueprint for permanent war: a militarized economy, a nuclear buildup without limit, and a posture of global confrontation that would outlast the men who wrote it. It is the founding doctrine beneath every operation in this series.

In this episode we take a deep dive into how NSC-68 was written and by whom, and its role in shaping the trillion-dollar war economy still running today.

This is part of the first season of Socialist History, our new series on The Socialist Program. In each episode we unpack a different CIA or Pentagon operation or document that shaped US imperialism.

Join The Socialist Program community at www.patreon.com/thesocialistprogram to get access to the next episodes in this series, more exclusive content, and help keep this show on the air.

Archival notes:

0:10 - Alex Jones, host of Infowars (2017)

0:16 - Pres. Donald Trump speaking at a rally (2018)

2:13 - Pres. Harry S. Truman speaking at his inauguration. Includes newsreel narrator voiceover (1949)

3:40 - Interview with Paul H. Nitze, former US government official and author of NSC-68 (1996)

6:03 - US Army documentary on the end of World War II, narrator voiceover (1945)

6:44 - Gen. Douglas MacArthur speaking at the signing of Japan’s surrender in World War II. Includes newsreel narrator voiceover (1945)

8:04 - Newsreel on soldiers returning home at the end of World War II, including narrator voiceover and source audio (1945)

10:24 - Pres. Franklin Roosevelt addresses Congress on World War II (1943)

11:06 - Newsreel on Soviet heroism in World War II, narrator voiceover (1942)

11:25 - Newsreel on the formation of the United Nations, narrator voiceover (1945)

11:49 - Newsreel on the formation of the International Monetary Fund, narrator voiceover (1944)

12:29 - Newsreel on the bombing of Dresden in World War II, narrator voiceover (1945)

14:39 - Newsreel on US industrial transition to wartime, narrator voiceover (1943)

15:30 - Pres. Harry S. Truman radio address (1945)

16:35 - Documentary on economic transition after World War II, narrator voiceover (1945)

17:10 - Cold War propaganda cartoon (1949)

18:30 - Newsreel on the formation of NATO, narrator voiceover (1949)

19:34 - Source audio of first Soviet nuclear weapon test (1949)

19:46 - Newsreel on first Soviet nuclear weapons test, includes narrator voiceover and source audio of reporters questioning Soviet Foreign Minister Vyshinsky (1949)

20:33 - Documentary on Chinese Civil War, narrator voiceover (1950s)

22:25 - Interview with Paul H. Nitze, former US government official and author of NSC-68 (1996)

25:25 - Interview with US Ambassador George F. Kennan (1993)

29:21 - Interview with Paul H. Nitze, former US government official and author of NSC-68 (1996)

31:50 - Newsreel on development of the hydrogen bomb, narrator voiceover (1950)

35:11 - Newsreel on outbreak of the Korean War, narrator voiceover (1950)

36:46 - Interview with Dean Rusk, Asst. Sec. of State during the 1950 division of Korea (1988)

37:38 - Interview with Donald MacDonald, official in the US military occupation government in South Korea (1988)

38:09 - Interview with Gregory Henderson, US Vice Consul in Korea 1948-1950, on the South Korean police (1988)

39:07 - Interview with Ko Wan-soon, survivor of the Jeju Massacre (2022)

41:37 - Newsreel on Gen. Douglas MacArthur meeting John Foster Dulles, narrator voiceover (1950)

42:39 - Interview with Paul H. Nitze, former US government official and author of NSC-68 (1996)

44:46 - Pres. Harry S. Truman speech, after outbreak of Korean War (1950)

46:01, 46:50 - Interview with Yan Von Sik, soldier in the Korean People’s Army (DPRK [North Korea]), on his experience in the Korean War (1998)

48:15 - Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower on Korean War armistice. Includes newsreel narrator voiceover (1953)

1:02:55 - Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell address (1961)